Chapter 302: Rampage

Chapter 302: Chapter 302: Rampage

Naruto burst out laughing. "You obviously cried! Why can’t I tell anyone? Who would’ve thought that someone who always acts so cool is actually just a little crybaby!"

Sasuke hurriedly said, "As long as you promise not to tell anyone about this, I can agree to any condition you want. This is the friendship of the noble Uchiha clan we’re talking about. You’d better think carefully!"

"You’ll agree to anything I want?"

Naruto’s eyes widened as he stared intently at Sasuke.

Sasuke took a small step back. "Uh... your condition can’t be too unreasonable!"

Hearing that, Naruto fell into deep thought.

Seeing how seriously Naruto was considering it, Sasuke began to feel uneasy. He was afraid Naruto might come up with some condition he simply couldn’t agree to.

Suddenly, Naruto seemed to think of something and shouted, "I got it!"

"What?"

Naruto pointed straight at Sasuke.

"My condition is—you have to be my friend!"

Sasuke froze for a moment, then breathed a sigh of relief. "What kind of condition is that?"

Naruto shouted, "Hey! Aren’t you from some prestigious clan? You have to keep your word! You already promised me, so you can’t take it back!"

Sasuke waved a hand dismissively. "Fine. We’re friends now."

And just like that, the two little boys who had both been abducted from the village that night threw their arms around each other’s shoulders and headed back toward the village, laughing and chatting along the way.

...

Meanwhile, inside the village.

Fugaku was leading a group of Uchiha elites as they sped toward the Hokage Building. Though they had yet to draw close, the brightly lit building in the distance and the deafening clamor of voices around it filled him with a sense of foreboding.

"Looks like the Third has already gathered quite a few shinobi!"

Judging solely from the voices of the shinobi in the distance, Fugaku could tell that there were at least a hundred shinobi gathered around the Hokage Building at the moment—perhaps even more!

In terms of sheer numbers, the Uchiha clan obviously couldn’t compete with the entire village.

Because of that, Fugaku had already made up his mind. The moment he saw the Third Hokage, he would dispense with all pretense and lay everything out in the open. If the Third still had no intention of stopping, then Fugaku would have no choice but to use his Mangekyo Sharingan and strike first!

It wasn’t long before the Uchiha group arrived at the outskirts of the Hokage Building.

Just as expected, the ANBU guarding the perimeter had no intention of allowing the Uchiha shinobi anywhere near the Hokage Building. They intercepted them while they were still some distance away.

Just as Fugaku began arguing with the ANBU stationed outside, the Third Hokage arrived with the two council elders, Koharu Utatane and Homura Mitokado, leading a group of Konoha jonin behind them.

While secretly preparing his Mangekyo Sharingan’s ocular ability, Fugaku bowed to the Third Hokage and demanded loudly, "Lord Hokage, what exactly happened? Why was the village placed under a state of emergency without notifying the Police Force?"

Seeing that Fugaku’s first words weren’t an explanation but an accusatory question delivered in an unfriendly tone, the Third became even more convinced that his suspicions were probably correct.

Taking the pipe from his mouth, he said, "Not long ago, Naruto was abducted by unidentified individuals. On top of that, I was targeted for assassination by an extremely powerful shinobi who possessed the Sharingan."

"What!?"

Fugaku was stunned.

This was completely different from what he had imagined!

The Third continued, "The enemy deliberately abducted Naruto first, luring Shisui, who was responsible for protecting him, out of the village. That left Shisui without any witnesses other than the few teammates accompanying him and prevented us from immediately locating him to confront him about what happened.

"Then, the enemy disguised themselves as Shisui and attempted to assassinate me, hoping to provoke a misunderstanding between the village and the Uchiha clan and make us destroy each other!"

During the time it had taken to declare the state of emergency and summon all the jonin in the village, the Third and the two council elders had already pieced together a rough picture of what had happened.

Of course, all of this rested on one crucial premise—

That the Third had not been wrong to trust Shisui.

Hearing this, Fugaku’s expression shifted repeatedly.

He had never imagined that so many things could happen on what should have been an ordinary night. And the intentions of whoever was manipulating everything from behind the scenes sent a chill down his spine.

If the Third Hokage had fallen for the scheme, then at this very moment, a battle would already be on the verge of erupting.

And once it did, there were only two likely outcomes.

Either the Uchiha clan would be completely annihilated, or Konoha’s upper leadership would be wiped out.

Whichever outcome occurred, it would be nothing short of catastrophic—for both the Uchiha and Konoha.

The Third Hokage patted Fugaku on the shoulder and reassured him, "I’ve already sent people to rendezvous with Team 11. They’ll definitely bring Naruto back safely!"

Fugaku could only nod in response.

Boom...

Suddenly, a deafening explosion erupted in the distance.

Immediately afterward, the earth itself began to tremble, as though some colossal creature were rampaging through the village.

"Could the Nine-Tails have gone berserk again!?"

The Third’s expression darkened. The sensation immediately reminded him of the Nine-Tails’ Attack several years ago.

But when everyone raised their heads and looked over, they discovered that the enormous creature wreaking havoc through the village wasn’t the familiar Nine-Tails.

Instead, it was a massive dragon-like creature with a purplish-black body, multiple heads, and numerous claws!

"What the hell is that!?"

"H-Hey... isn’t that amount of chakra way too ridiculous!?"

"Damn it! My house is over there!"

The gathered shinobi immediately erupted into chaos. There wasn’t a single person among them who could calmly stand by while a monster rampaged through the part of the village where their families lived.

Just then, a chunin came rushing over from the direction of the rampaging monster. His face was deathly pale, and one hand was clutching his injured shoulder.

He hurriedly reported to the Third, "Lord Hokage! A squad captain from the Police Force is fighting that monster alone! Please send reinforcements immediately!"

"A squad captain from the Police Force!?"

The Third froze for a moment before turning toward Fugaku.

Fugaku looked just as bewildered.

The Police Force was entirely controlled by the Uchiha clan, and all of its squad captains were standing right behind Fugaku at this very moment.

Where could some other squad captain have possibly come from?

More importantly, how could a mere jonin possibly hold back a monster like that?

Without the Mangekyo Sharingan, even the most experienced elite jonin would probably have a hard time facing such a monster alone.

At that moment, the injured chunin bowed toward Fugaku.

"Clan Head Fugaku, we really owe that squad captain our lives this time! If it weren’t for her, I’m afraid none of the teams stationed around that area would’ve survived! So please, you absolutely must convey our gratitude to her!"

Fugaku could only nod awkwardly.

The Third Hokage suddenly flickered onto the roof of a nearby building and shouted, "Move out! We’re driving that monster out of the village!"

"Yes!"

The Konoha shinobi roared their acknowledgment in unison, including the shinobi of the Uchiha clan.

The sudden appearance of this monster only provided further evidence that a third-party force had interfered with the events of tonight.

Because of that, both Konoha and the Uchiha now found themselves united against a common enemy.

In an instant, under the Third Hokage’s personal command, a massive force of shinobi rushed toward the area where the monster was rampaging...

...

Meanwhile, atop a tall building on the other side of the village.

Obito emerged from a swirling vortex and stared at the monster wreaking havoc throughout the village.

For a moment, he was utterly speechless.

"This... isn’t quite how I imagined things going..."